10-year-old boy charged with arson at Jackson Township retirement home

Wednesday

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

A 10-year-old boy is charged with arson in connection with a fire at Hillcrest Retirement Community shortly after noon on Monday.

HOWARD FRANK

A 10-year-old boy is charged with arson in connection with a fire at Hillcrest Retirement Community shortly after noon on Monday.

He was taken into custody and is being lodged at the Lehigh County Detention Center, pending further court action.

An eyewitness recounted the events that ended with an unoccupied unit at the Jackson Township senior facility being damaged by a fire.

Lucas Esposito, 12, of Jackson Township and his dad were on their way to the video store Monday morning. Lucas was thinking about a new game they were going to buy.

Along the way, Lucas and his father, Robert Esposito put out a small fire, shortly before a larger fire damaged a residential unit at the Hillcrest Retirement Community.

The family lives in the Pleasant View Park development, near the senior center. The trip to the store took them past the center.

"We are going to GameStop at 11:20 (a.m.). He said 'Daddy, look, there's a fire there.' Then he said 'but someone's there.' So we turned around and went into the parking lot and right to the fire," Bobby Esposito said.

What they both found was a bunch of leaves burning under a large evergreen tree next to the building, with flames rising about two feet in the air. "The pine tree was about to catch fire," he said.

The two stopped and extinguished the fire with four jugs of drinking water they kept in the car. Then they alerted workers at the center, who said they'd dig out the area to make sure the fire was out.

The Espositos continued on to the store. On their way back, they saw smoke coming through a window at the senior center.

Some volunteer firefighters were on scene waiting for fire trucks to arrive. Also on scene were two state police troopers. Esposito gave his earlier account to one of them.

"The one in charge had somebody in the back seat (of the patrol car)," Esposito said. (The trooper) took our statement. One of the other troopers came back and said he found stuff all over the floor (of the damaged room).

Esposito described the person in the car as a young teen.

"He looked worried sitting in the back seat. I felt bad for the kid."

One of the state troopers at the scene happened to be driving by when the second fire occurred.

The fire was limited to an unoccupied unit in the senior center. The damage included a burnt mattress and smoke and fire debris. A state police fire marshal was called to investigate.